The Jereed, From The Existence In It Of A Few Antiquities, Such As
Pieces Of Granite And Marble, And Occasionally
A name or a classic
inscription, is proved to have been in the possession of the Romans, and
undoubtedly of
The Carthaginians before them, who could have had no
difficulty in holding this flat and exposed country.
The trade and resources of this country consist principally in dates.
The quantity exported to other parts of the Regency, as well as to
foreign countries, where their fine quality is well known, is in round
numbers on an average from three to four thousand quintals per annum.
But in Jereed itself, twenty thousand people live six months of the year
entirely on dates.
"A great number of poles," says Sir Grenville Temple, "are arranged
across the rooms at the height of eight or nine feet from the ground,
and from these are suspended rich and large bunches of dates, which
compose the winter store of the inhabitants; and in one corner of the
room is one or more large earthern jars about six or seven feet high,
also filled with dates pressed close together, and at the bottom of the
jar is a cock, from which is drawn the juice in the form of a thick
luscious syrup. It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more
palatable than this 'sweet of sweets.'"
As we are writing of the country of dates, _par excellence_, I must
needs give some description of the palm, but it will be understood that
the information is Tunisian, or collected in Tunis, and may differ in
some respects from details collected in other parts of North Africa.
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